


Friends (Won't Love Me Like You)

by poeticalramblings



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Minor Amper, Minor Jaubrey, Minor Stemily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 10:04:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5703625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poeticalramblings/pseuds/poeticalramblings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beca knows that she and Chloe aren’t your typical best friends. Your typical pair of best friends doesn’t usually have date nights or end the day more often than not, wrapped around each other on the couch or in each other’s beds. Typical best friends don’t kiss each other occasionally because words don’t convey the right affection. There’s more intimacy to the two of them, she’s always known that. She just never really stopped to think about why. </p><p>Or</p><p>That fic where Beca literally couldn't be any more in denial that she and Chloe are more than friends until she's not in denial at all, anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends (Won't Love Me Like You)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheGrimLlama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGrimLlama/gifts).



> So this is very very late, but in my defense... I'd only intended this to be a very short drabble and instead ended up writing over 3k. Title taken from 'Friends' by Ed Sheeran.
> 
> Merry (very belated) Pitchmas, and Happy New Year! (since an anonymous source informed me that you didn't get a gift from your person!)  
> (And yes, by anonymous source I mean @RedLance ) Anyways, I love you dude. Enjoy! <3

As far as birthdays go, Beca thinks, and despite the hatred she has of her own, this one has been pretty amazing. And she knows she has Chloe to thank for that.

 

Beca’s standing in a room of her closest friends, all of whom have flown in from various areas of the country – with the exception of Fat Amy and Bumper who flew in from Tasmania instead that morning – and her heart just feels _full._ She’d never admit it to anyone of course, but she’s just so grateful for all of these dorks. It’s like before they came along, Beca was just a mediocre song– one that was a little bit too out there for most people’s tastes– and they took her strange melody and remixed her into a version even she likes the sound of. Chloe most of all.

 

(She’s never told anyone, but sometimes late at night, Beca can’t help but think about how the most perfect mashup in her life isn’t even one that she’s made. The way Chloe has entwined herself so perfectly into the beat of Beca’s heart should scare her, but Chloe’s even breathing sounding in her ear – and the way her arms wrap tightly around Beca’s waist– always bring the opposite effect. She just feels _safe–_ like even if all the music in her world disappeared tomorrow, it wouldn’t _really_ be gone, because _Chloe_ would still be there.)

 

(That probably should have tipped her off, she thinks. Maybe.)

 

Beca knows that she and Chloe aren’t your typical best friends. Your typical pair of best friends doesn’t usually have date nights or end the day more often than not, wrapped around each other on the couch or in each other’s beds. Typical best friends don’t kiss each other occasionally because words don’t convey the right affection. There’s more intimacy to the two of them, she’s always known that. She just never really stopped to think about _why_.

 

So, Beca is standing in a room of her closest friends, heart feeling like it might overflow with love– especially for Chloe– and she still doesn’t expect what happens next.

 

She’s just finished opening the last of her gifts– or at least what she believes to be the last of her gifts– when Chloe slides a small box out of her pocket with a shaky looking smile.

 

“Dude.” Beca says– and fights the urge to roll her eyes at herself. ( _Way to be eloquent Mitchell_.) “Why do you look nervous? I’m sure I’ll love whatever is in that tiny tiny square box because it's from you. You look like you're going to propose. It'll be fine.”

 

Chloe smiles at her even more tremulously with that remark– which _okay_ , she didn’t really think that was possible given her current state– and moves down onto one knee in front of her, flipping the box open to reveal a ring.

 

Beca’s mind goes blank and all she can think for a moment is that she’s being Punk’d, nevermind the fact that the show ended years ago. She can hear her heartbeat pounding through her ears like a never ending kick drum and she’s pretty sure she’s never felt more like an idiot in her life. Which is a pretty impressive feat, for her, honestly. Beca knows she’s had some pretty dumb moments over the years, but she’s pretty sure nothing is ever going to top this one for her.

 

Chloe is down on one knee in front of her, mouth opened to speak– some wonderfully romantic speech that Beca would normally hate, no doubt, but will love because it’s from Chloe– and everything suddenly makes sense.

 

Most people would have had their “oh shit” moment earlier, she thinks. Way before their _girlfriend_ – oh god, Chloe is her girlfriend, how could she _have_ _not_ _realized_ – is down on one knee _proposing_ to them. _Most people_ would have figured this out, say, _years_ ago. But Beca is not most people. And she’s never been more upset–or mortified at herself– for that fact than now.

 

She’s pretty sure time must have slowed down, and she’s thinking in hyperspeed. That’s the only possible explanation as to why Chloe seems frozen in place, worried and waiting and expectant.

 

Beca glances around the room quickly– taking note of how everyone seems to be holding their breaths collectively– and gulps.

 

“Well?” Aubrey demands. “Answer her!”

 

“Oh.” Beca just about squeaks out, heart pounding and feeling like she has suddenly been thrust into the real world from dreaming. _“Oh.”_

 

And then she runs.

* * *

 

Jesse finds her in the stairwell barely minutes later and eases himself down onto the stairs next to her, bumping her shoulder with his own lightly.

 

“Didn’t see that coming” he jokes, “but then, by the looks of it, neither did you.”

 

Beca just stares straight ahead for another moment before turning to scowl at him. He smiles goofily at her – he’s such a nerd, _honestly_ – and raises his hands half in surrender before she sighs and closes her eyes momentarily. She reopens them and points menacingly at him before speaking.

 

“Jess, I need you to promise not to laugh at me. I need to talk about this, but I need to know you’re not going to laugh. Not one chuckle, do you understand?”

 

He mimes locking his lips and throwing away the key while she fights the urge to roll her eyes at him. _Seriously,_ _such a nerd._

 

Beca stares down at her hands in front of her and fidgets with her thumb ring a little before starting to speak.

 

“So I kind of didn’t – like, know? That Chloe thought of us as together?”

 

Jesse’s eyes widen almost comically at that and she can see him smirking slightly next to her.

 

“Dude! You promised!” Beca punches his arm and glares.

 

“Ow!” he groans, rubbing at the spot where she hit him. “You punch too hard. I didn’t laugh!”

 

“Shut up, you were going to.” she snarks back, but there’s no real malice in it. This is how they work. Beca’s still not sure why she ever thought they were romantically compatible. They’re more like brother and sister than anything else, it’s apparent now more than ever. She grimaces slightly. It’s never been like things are with say, _Chloe_.

 

 _Oh._ So many things make sense now, all of a sudden.

 

“Becaw, we literally had double date nights. You and Chloe, Aubrey and I.”

 

She mock-raises her fist as if to punch him again and he flinches, raising his hands in surrender. She feels a dark bit of satisfaction at that and then mild guilt but it serves him right.

 

They fall silent for a moment before the clatter of footsteps on the stairs above them interrupts.

 

Emily drops herself down to sit onto the step above where they’re sitting and gently squeezes Beca’s shoulder, not saying anything else.

 

There was a time when Emily wouldn’t have reacted that way– where she wouldn’t have known that Beca processed better with silence and quiet comfort over confrontation and probing questions– and Beca can’t help but feel oddly proud at the two of them. They’ve become so close. She’s said it before and it’s true– Emily’s probably her best friend, apart from Chloe. (Jesse likes to act hurt over this fact, but she still maintains that he’s more like her brother than anything else. Family is in its own category.)

 

“Don’t hit me again for asking, but other than shock, how are you feeling about this?”

 

Beca takes a deep breath and runs a hand through her hair before turning to face him.

 

She shrugs a shoulder at him, “I’m not upset? I mean, I am at myself. For being an idiot. I just– the world’s always made so much more sense to me, since meeting Chloe. Since becoming a Bella. Everything made more sense to me, except my friendship with her. It just kind of took me until now to figure out why.”

 

“Ah.” he nods understandingly. “That makes sense.”

 

She furrows her brow at him and he rushes to continue.

 

“Because through love, we feel the intensity of our connection to everything and everyone. And at the core we’re all the same. We're all one.”

 

Emily bursts into laughter behind her and Beca spins slightly so she can look at both of them.

 

“Alright Yoda, what does that even mean?”

 

“It means either Jesse is trying to come out too or he’s trying to take _lesbro_ to a whole new level.” Emily finally speaks, still giggling.

 

Beca turns her head quickly to glare at Jesse warningly and point a finger. “That’s not going to be a thing.”

 

“But Becaw!” he pouts, “it’s already _been_ a thing. You just didn’t know it!”

 

“No.” she says, shaking her head. “Just… no.”

 

“Fine…” he sighs dejectedly, “but what I meant before is that the way you feel for Chloe– the way you fell for her, changed you and how you related to the world. That’s why everything– and everyone– makes more sense. You were just missing the why– it’s her.”

 

“You are the sappiest person I know, dude.” Beca shakes her head at him. “But yeah, you’re right.”

 

“I’ll have you know, Aubrey loves that about me.” he counters loftily.

 

“Well, Stacie loves my endless optimism and equally high sex drive.” Emily jumps in and counters, before wincing. “Shoot. I wasn’t supposed to tell you guys about that right now. We agreed to tell everyone later.”

 

Beca laughs before standing and stretching. She loves these weirdos. She’s pretty sure she’d be lost without them. But she knows it all started because of Chloe.

 

Shit, _Chloe_. She just ran out on her!

 

The panic on her face must be showing because they’re both staring up at her now with concerned expressions. “Can one of you go get Chloe please? I need to talk to her and I’d prefer to like– do it away from everyone’s prying eyes.”

 

“I’ll go!” Emily jumps up, “I’ll be right back with her, stay right here!” She gets halfway up the stairs before pausing and glancing back down at them. “Not that you’d like– go anywhere.”

 

“Go, Em. Hurry back please.” Beca laughs.

* * *

 

Emily rushes back into the apartment and nearly crashes straight into Amy and Bumper, who are crouched down against the kitchen wall.

 

“Hey, have you guys seen– what are you doing?”

 

“Ehh...nothing.” Amy waves a hand dismissively at her, before darting her eyes away guiltily for a moment. Bumper just smiles at her innocently, which, come to think of it, is also rather suspicious. Whatever, she doesn’t have time for that right now.

 

“Oookay. Have fun with that.” Emily nods before glancing across the kitchen and around the living room. “Have you guys seen Chloe? I need to find her.”

 

“Oh, has Beca done a nickywhoop?” Amy asks and Emily furrows her eyebrows in response.

 

“A what?”

 

“You know, done a flit? Since she’s up a gum tree.”

 

Emily stares at her open mouthed for a moment and just shrugs before asking again.

 

“Yeah, have you seen her?”

 

“I think she’s in her bedroom with Aubrey and Stacie.” Amy points her thumb behind her in that direction. “You go. We’ll just stay here. Guarding the cake.”

 

Emily shakes her head at the two of them in response and makes a beeline for the bedroom. She’s pretty sure that whatever they’re doing has absolutely nothing to do with _guarding_ the cake but whatever, that can be dealt with later.

 

Upon pushing open the door, she catches sight of a teary Chloe sitting sandwiched on the bed between Aubrey and Stacie.

 

“I feel like I got too ahead of myself.” Chloe says quietly. “I should have talked to her about this first. I mean, I knew that she had mixed feelings about marriage because of her parents.”

 

Stacie sends her a small smile over the top of red hair and she grins for half a second in response to her girlfriend before devoting her attention back to Chloe.

 

“Um–Chloe?” Emily smiles softly but encouragingly at her. “Can you like– come with me? Beca wants to talk to you.”

 

Chloe dries her eyes with the tissue she’s been worrying between her fingers and nods, standing up from the bed to follow. Aubrey stands at that too, but at a panicked look from Emily, Stacie tugs her back down.

 

“Chill, Bree, let them talk it out.”

 

Aubrey glares at the brunette in response but doesn’t move to get up again, thankfully.

 

Emily forgets herself again and blows Stacie a kiss in gratitude, shrugging when Stacie playfully widens her eyes at her. Emily loves the way that Stacie’s nose crinkles slightly from smiling when she looks at Emily. God _,_ she _loves_ that woman _._ And she’ll tell her that soon, Emily thinks (or at least she hopes)– as soon as she can work up the nerve.

 

Emily shakes herself out of her Stacie induced stupor at the sound of a pointed cough from Aubrey.

 

“Well” she demands with knowing look, “Calm your toner for Stacie and take Chloe to Beca.”

 

Emily blushes and clears her throat, “Right! Yeah, sorry, this way Chlo!”

* * *

 

Beca shoos Jesse away after a couple minutes of waiting for Emily to come back with Chloe. She wants to try and think out how to say what she’s feeling to Chloe in at least a semi-coherent manner while she can.

 

Chloe’s always had this way of turning Beca’s thoughts to mush– not quite as visibly as Kommissar did in their final year of college– but not any less effectively, either. And to be honest, Beca thinks, she’s always _liked_ it. The feeling that Chloe gives her– it’s always been right up there with the high she gets while performing or the rush of mixing. Even higher, if she’s really honest with herself. How she didn’t figure this out sooner is beyond her, honestly. The signs were all flashing in her face– she sees it now.

 

“I should have talked to you first.” Chloe says from behind her, and Beca startles out of her thoughts. “I’m sorry.”

 

“No, Chlo– oh god, that rhymed– I mean, um–” Beca falls silent for a moment as the words escape her. “I just–”

 

“Breathe, Becs.” Chloe’s suddenly right there on the step next to her, pulling Beca’s hands into her own and lacing them together. “it’s just me, okay? Nothing’s changed.”

 

Beca glances up into Chloe’s eyes and wonders slightly at how the knot of anxiety in her chest loosens before falling completely flat– and then fading away completely. _God,_ she’s an idiot.

 

She can’t help but burst into laughter then– the kind that starts loud and makes your sides ache, and goes on until you can’t breathe or end up coughing. She can’t quiet herself for a few long minutes either– until she’s wiping tears from her eyes, and Chloe is staring at her with an amused but also kind of concerned smile on her face.

 

“Sorry” she says with a wry smirk, “It’s just– I’m an idiot.”

 

“You’re not—” Chloe tries to interrupt her.

 

“I really am, though. Just–let me talk for a minute, please?” Beca says, running her thumb over the back of Chloe’s hand soothingly.

 

She receives a nod in response and takes a deep breath, trying to form words into actual sentences in her head.

 

“I didn’t know. That we were– are, I mean– together. I mean… I knew that you and I were more intimate than friends but, I don’t know dude, I’m kind of blind to a lot of this stuff. And I didn’t know that you thought of us as a couple, I wish I had, but I didn’t.”

 

Beca pauses to take a breath and winces at how she’s sounding, but the redhead is still just looking at her openly– listening attentively. The very nature of it is just so _Chloe_ that she can’t help but smile at her and play with their intertwined hands a little more. She refocuses back on what she’s trying to say and continues.

 

“I kind of didn’t figure it out until today. Everything just kind of clicked when you–”

 

“When I proposed.” Chloe interrupts mildly, smirking a tiny bit. “Oh, your reaction makes so much more sense now…to a lot of things actually.”

 

“Yeah, yeah…” Beca grumbles, “I know. Like I said, an idiot.”

 

“Better late than never, though.” Chloe smiles at her brightly, before letting her expression slip back into a smirk that Beca can only describe as teasing and playful.

 

“But maybe we should take marriage off the table for now, since we’ve apparently only just started dating.”

 

Inwardly, Beca smiles to herself at that. She knows they’ll talk about this more later but she loves this, how easy it is with the two of them. With almost anyone else, she thinks, this would have been cause for a huge fight. But with them? It’s just water under the bridge. They just get each other. They always have.

 

Outwardly though, Beca only nods and then closes her eyes while groaning playfully.

 

“Yeah, well, since we’re dating, how about you shut up and kiss me before we have to go back inside, and brave the wild animals that we call our friends?”

 

Chloe laughs and cups her face gently, ghosting her lips across Beca’s own before returning to press more firmly and all Beca can do is sink into it.

 

Chloe feels like home, Beca thinks, and that thought makes her smile into their kiss.

 

(She might also roll her eyes at herself right after that but whatever. Just because she’s realized the depth of their situation and feelings doesn’t mean she’s gone and had a lobotomy. She’s still _Beca-effin-Mitchell_ , okay?)

 

“I’m so _in love_ with you, nerd.” Chloe says, laughing at her and Beca smiles despite feeling her face flush.

 

“I don’t know, that might not be such a good idea. I think I’m a bad influence. You’re really starting to sound like me.” The brunette dodges Chloe’s playful slap and laughs, before standing.

 

“Okay, okay, I love you too. Let’s go reassure the heathens, though. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can kick them out– and you and I can– uh– _explore,_ I mean... discuss our relationship.”

 

“Oh my god!” Chloe giggles, as they walk up the stairs together and into the hallway, “I think I liked you not knowing better, you’re sounding like a 15 year old boy.”

 

Beca smirks at her while opening the door to the apartment and raises her eyebrows suggestively, “What was that? Did you say you wanna Netflix and chill?”

 

“You’re incorrigible.” the redhead laughs, “Now come on, there’s cake.”

* * *

 

It takes more than a few minutes, but the two of them explain what had happened to their friends. Well, their friends sans Amy and Bumper, who seem to have gone missing. Emily had said that she’d last seen them both in the kitchen earlier on her way to hunt down Chloe, but no one’s seen them since.

“Now that Beca and I are dating” Chloe starts to say and Beca interrupts her.

 

“Dude, you’re never going to let me live this down are you?” she groans good-naturedly.

 

“Nope!” Chloe says happily, popping the p in the word loudly, “But you love me, so let’s have cake now!”

 

She reaches into the fridge before turning around with a puzzled look on her face, right as Emily calls into the kitchen.

 

“Amy and Bumper just texted to say they left and they’ll catch up with us later!”

 

“Um– where is the cake?”

* * *

 

Bumper groans loudly and rubs his stomach, looking a little green, “Too much frosting.”

 

Amy stares at him very seriously before stealing another forkful of cake and then pointing the utensil at him,

 

“You need to learn right now, there is _no such thing._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Written from this otp prompt: "Imagine your otp dating for five years, but person a doesn't realize they're dating until person b proposes to them at a big party in front of all their friends. In the ensuing whirlwind of drama, no one notices a second otp making off with the cake."
> 
> If you read this and caught the easter egg I planted, I automatically love you forever. (And even if you didnt't) Come talk to me on tumblr about these dorks @ aca-nerd!


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